PREGAME FACT & INFO SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE @ PORTLAND TIMBERS FC
SAT., MARCH 19, 2016 – 8:00 p.m. MT – PROVIDENCE PARK
on KMYU, ESPN700 & 102.3 LaGranD / 1600 AM
1 – WIN THIS SEASON WITHOUT midfield maestro Javier Morales, as RSL earned the full 3 points last week in a 2-1 win over Seattle with #SwissArmyKnife Jordan Allen manning the #10 position … That total equaled the number of wins secured by RSL in 8 games played last season (out of 42) without Morales appearing as a starter or off the bench … in the last 2 seasons, RSL has won just 4 out of 16 games played without the 10th-year Argentine … Allen, now in his 3rd year with RSL, had started 11 of his previous 25 MLS appearances at outside back or up top on the wing …
1 – HOME GAME in the first month of the MLS season for RSL, which travels for 3 of its first 4 (including this week in Portland) and 9 of its first 13 league matches this year … The glut of early-season road matches is due to a resurfacing of Rio Tinto Stadium in the month of May, with the venue re-opening to MLS and USL play on June 18 with an exact replica of the original field installed back in September, 2008 … RSL is off next week during the international break, travels to Kansas City on Sat., April 2 and then is back at Rio Tinto Stadium on April 9 for the first of 3 home games next month, first against Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado and then against Vancouver (4/16) and Houston (4/30) …
3 – POINTS FROM A LOSING POSITION claimed by RSL already in 2016, equaling the total after just two MLS games as it amassed in the entirety of 2015, not securing a come-from-behind win until MLS game #30 on Oct. 4, 2015 (at Colorado on the Luke Mulholland bomb from distance) …
3 – GOALS NEEDED by returning RSL FW Yura Movsisyan to surpass former boss Jason Kreis and move into 8th all-time in the RSL golden boot race … Yura scored 15 league goals for RSL from 2007-09, prior to a six-year career in Denmark and Russia that saw him score another 77 across all competitions, including the Armenian National Team … Amongst active RSL players, Yura ranks fourth overall, behind Javier Morales (45), Kyle Beckerman (25) and Joao Plata (23) …
5 – COMBINED GOALS AND ASSISTS this season for RSL FW Joao Plata, who has scored (2x) or assisted (2x) on all four MLS goals in 2016, as well as hitting on the lone RSL goal in CCL play against Tigres earlier this year …
6 – GAMES WITHOUT DEFEAT for RSL at Portland, the Claret-and-Cobalt posting a 3-0-3 mark across all competitions in Oregon … RSL’s lone loss came in the club’s first-ever match at what was then Jeld-Wen, losing 0-1 on a Kenny Cooper header just before halftime back on May 1, 2011, just 3 days after RSL dropped the CONCACAF Champions League final at home to Monterrey …
7 – WINS NEEDED by RSL icon Nick Rimando this season to match all-time MLS leader Kevin Hartman for all-time victories … Rimando – already the all-time MLS leader in shutouts (123) by 11 over Hartman, despite playing 20 fewer games – could eclipse the longtime LA/DAL/KC/NY ‘keeper in several categories, including wins (needs 8 to surpass), starts (16), games (21) and minutes (1,468) … “The Wall of the Wasatch” is roughly ½ a season away from securing G.O.A.T. (“Greatest of All Time) status …
8 – ALL-TIME TURF ROAD WINS, as RSL owns a woeful 8-23-17 mark on the fake stuff across all competitions, being outscored 40-83 … RSL is 0-8-3 in its last 11 games across MLS and CCL play on the fake stuff, posting an 0-4-1 mark in each of the last two seasons, prior to the March 6 last-second debacle in Orlando … However, RSL’s greatest glory has come on an artificial surface, winning MLS Cup 2009 in a shootout against LA at what was then known as Qwest Field in Seattle … RSL also has earned points in each of its last 6 games at Providence Park against the Timbers …
12 – OPENING-DAY MLS results for RSL at home in the club’s 12 seasons, posting a 5-0-7 overall mark on Utah soil in league openers …
61 – GOALSCORERS in RSL’s 12-year, 127-player, 355-game league history to have scored at least one MLS goal for the Claret-and-Cobalt, now that MF Stephen Sunday “Sunny” Obayan found the back of the net last week against Seattle … Sunny nodded home a Joao Plata corner kick on for his first-ever MLS shot … Sunny follows in the footsteps of FW Juan Manuel Martinez, who opened his MLS account last Sept. 12 in Houston … Martinez, nicknamed “Burrito,” joined a group that includes Brian Dunseth, Robbie Findley, Matias Mantilla, Kenny Deuchar, Pablo Campos, and Luke Mulholland to have scored in their first-ever MLS start for RSL … Also, three RSL players – Luis Tejada, Kyle Brown and Paulo Junior – each scored in debut starts outside of league play …
99 – HOME WINS at #RioT since 2008, as RSL has amassed a 99-22-40 mark on home soil in all competitions in its last 161 home matches, during which it has outscored opponents by 169 goals (286-117) … Last week marked RSL’s first home MLS match of 2016 at Rio Tinto Stadium, the club amassing a 78-17-36 record in MLS reg. season games (233-96 goals), and an 8-1-2 CCL mark (21-7), a 5-2-2 playoff resume (11-4), and an 8-2-0 ledger in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (21-10) …
127 – players to have represented the Claret-and-Cobalt in MLS ACTION in the club’s first 12 seasons, as MF Stephen Sunday Obayan – nicknamed “Sunny” – became #127 on March 6 as he started the 2016 opener in Orlando, prior to being sacrificed after the Phillips red card … Last year saw HC Jeff Cassar give several players – Justen Glad, Phanuel Kavita, Boyd Okwuonu, Elias Vasquez, Demar Phillips, Sebastian Saucedo & Pecka – their MLS debuts … 28 players saw league minutes last year, meaning everyone on the roster except GK Lalo Fernandez (MF Fito Ovalle was on a season-long loan to the USL Monarchs) participated in league action …
213 – MF Javier Morales is expected to make his 213th MLS reg. season appearance tonight, extending his lone possession of 3rd place all-time, joining a 200+ reg. season games played-group that includes Nick Rimando (251), Kyle Beckerman (233), Chris Wingert (206) and Nat Borchers (205)... Morales now has a franchise-high 18 game-winning assists (1 ahead of Captain Kyle Beckerman) and 76 assists overall to go with his 45 career goals, the Argentine MF responsible for nearly 25% of the club’s all-time 477 MLS goals, despite missing all of the 2005/06 seasons and most of both 2007 & 2011 …
381 – career MLS regular-season appearances for RSL Captain Kyle Beckerman, the most amongst all-time field players in the 20-year old history of Major League Soccer (MLS) … Last October 17 against Dallas, Beckerman surpassed former Tampa Bay Mutiny and New England Revolution icon Steve Ralston (378) in career MLS games played; this season, Kyle needs 21 more starts and 1,552 more minutes played to surpass Ralston in those service categories, with the Crofton, Maryland native looking up to only MLS goalkeepers Kevin Hartman (416 GP / 411 GS / 37,260 minutes) and active/long-time teammate Nick Rimando (397 / 397 / 35,883) …
60,147 – March 6 at Orlando marked the FIRST-EVER and LARGEST CROWD that has hosted RSL in a match, just the 3rd occasion that RSL has played before more than 50,000 fans, both previous iterations in 2-goal losses at Seattle in 2015 (1-3) and 2013 (0-2) … RSL’s finale last year to close out the season was attended by 55,435 at C-Link … two other RSL visits to Seattle have seen the club play before more than the 45,511 from August, 2006 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in SLC, when RSL lost, 0-2, to Real Madrid (SPN) in an international exhibition, the largest soccer crowd ever in the state of Utah …
